Disney seeks to halt 3D patent sale

International / 4 January 2013, 11:05am

Walt Disney Company Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Robert Iger announces Disney's new standards for food advertising on their programming targeting kids and families at the Newseum in Washington June 5, 2012. Walt Disney Company, owner of the ABC broadcast network and a suite of cable channels, will stop accepting some junk-food ads on TV programs, radio shows and websites aimed at children, according to sources with knowledge of the plan. REUTERS/Gary Cameron (UNITED STATES - Tags: FOOD BUSINESS HEALTH LOGO ENTERTAINMENT)

Walt Disney Studios Motion Picture Production has asked a US federal judge to block a bankruptcy court ruling that would allow the sale of patents related to three-dimensional movies.

Disney’s rights to use the technology to convert traditional films into 3D movies would be harmed if the sale went ahead, the company said in its appeal in a US district court in Wilmington, Delaware.

The dispute involves the shell company left in bankruptcy by the collapse of Digital Domain Media Group, the provider of special effects for the movies Transformers and Titanic.

That shell, known as DDMG Estate, held an auction for the patents last month.

Disney claims it has the right to use the technology because of agreements it signed with the original patent holder.

Those agreements are related to movies including Alice in Wonderland. – Bloomberg